one step at a time

I’m horribly afraid of heights. So much so that when I find myself in a high place, I’m tempted to just jump because I want the fear to end. Completely irrational, but that’s how it feels.

So given my fear, rock climbing is just crazy. But I kind of love it anyways. When I’m up on that wall and my heart is pounding so hard from fear, and every muscle is straining…it gives quite an adrenaline rush.

But I never look down and I never look too far ahead. I stay focused on the place where I am and the next step. I look for the nearby holds rather than looking back or down.

Though as a historian I tend to have an obsession with the past, in my own life I’m learning the importance of being present in the here and now. Rock climbing is a good reminder of that important lesson. When I concentrate on the very place where I am, the fear of what’s below or ahead just drops away.